New Disruptive Technology: Napster for TV Broadcasts

TVU CHIEF GRAPPLES WITH COPYRIGHT QUESTIONS
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com 11/6, AUTHOR: Greg Sandoval]
Here's a disruptive technology: Paul Shen's TVUPlayer allows users to stream live TV broadcasts to one another via the Internet. Think Napster for TV broadcasts: a peer-to-peer streaming network without licenses and without limits on the length of the video. Once users download the TVUPlayer, they can upload and receive broadcasts over a network. The blogging community has been giving this thing rave reviews, apparently. One of the main ideas here is that broadcasting costs suddenly become exponentially lower than those of today's streaming technology. But is this legal? How does it plan to make money? In an interview with CNET, Shen said the TVUPlayer is nothing more than a way to demonstrate a technology he wants to sell to broadcasters. He wants to bring all TV channels to the masses--and for cheap--but he wants to work with the world's networks, not against them, and naturally, sell ads. Shen acknowledges that the content currently appearing on the TVUPlayer is ripped off, but he denied being a video pirate, claiming that his users are responsible for what they upload. However, given the Supreme Court's Grokster ruling, file-sharing networks can be found complicit in the illegal sharing of copyrights by empowering users to share content illegally. While YouTube is frantically trying to secure legal copyright deals, in comes TVU Networks allowing people to share their television content with one another. Expect a DVR service to be forthcoming, as well as a few cease and desist letters from media companies.
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